A wireless local area network (WLAN) uses radio frequency (RF) signals to transmit and receive data between electronic devices. WLANs provide all of the features and benefits of traditional hard-wired LANs without requiring cable connections between the devices. In WLANs, transmitters and receivers (often implemented as wireless network interface cards) provide a wireless interface between a client and a wireless access point to create a transparent connection between the client and the network. Alternately, the WLAN provides a wireless interface directly between two devices.
The access point is the wireless equivalent of a hub. The access point is typically connected to the WLAN backbone through a standard Ethernet cable and communicates with the wireless devices using an antenna. The wireless access point maintains the connections to clients that are located in a coverage area of the access point. The wireless access point also typically handles security by granting or denying access.
IEEE section 802.11(a), which is hereby incorporated by reference, standardized WLANs that operate at approximately 5 GHz with data speeds up to 54 Mbps. A low band operates at frequencies from 5.15 to 5.25 GHz with a maximum power output of 50 mW. A middle band operates at frequencies from 5.25 to 5.35 GHz with a maximum power output of 250 mW. A high band operates at frequencies from 5.75 to 5.85 GHz with a maximum power output of 1000 mW.
Because of the high power output, wireless devices operating in the high band will tend to include building-to-building and outdoor applications. The low and middle bands are more suitable for in-building applications. IEEE section 802.11(a) employs orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) instead of direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) that is employed by IEEE section 802.11(b). OFDM provides higher data rates and reduces transmission echo and distortion that are caused by multipath propagation and radio frequency interference (RFI).
Referring now to FIG. 1, data packets include a preamble 10 that is specified by IEEE section 802.11(a). The preamble 10 includes a plurality of short training symbols 12 (S0, . . . , S9). The short training symbols 12 are followed by a guard interval 14 (Guard) and two long training symbols 16-1 and 16-2 (L0, L1). The duration of the short training symbol 12 is Tshort, the duration of the guard interval 14 is TG12, the duration of the long training symbols 16 is Tlong, the duration of the guard interval 15 for data symbols is TG1, and the duration of data symbols 18 is Tdata. Guard intervals 15 and data symbols 18 alternate after the long training symbols 16. According to IEEE section 802.11(a), Tshort=0.8 μs, TG1=0.8 μs, TG12=1.6 μs, Tlong=3.2 μs, and Tdata=4 μs.
One important task of the OFDM receiver is the estimation of symbol timing and carrier frequency offset. Symbol timing is needed to determine the samples of each OFDM symbol that correspond to the guard interval and the samples that are used for fast Fourier transform (FFT) processing. Compensation of the carrier frequency offset is also needed to maximize signal amplitude and minimize inter-carrier interference (ICI).
Conventional symbol timing circuits correlate two halves of a single OFDM training symbol whose duration is equal to the duration of the data symbols. For example, see the symbol timing circuit disclosed in T. Schmidl and D.C. Cox, “Robust Frequency and Timing Synchronization for OFDM”, IEEE Trans. Commun., vol. 45, no. 12, (December 1999), pp. 1613–1621, which is hereby incorporated by reference. The conventional symbol timing circuit exhibits a plateau when there is no intersymbol interference (ISI). The duration of the plateau is the duration of the guard interval that is not affected by ISI. The plateau in the conventional symbol timing circuit corresponds to the range of acceptable times for the start of the frame. For example, the center of the plateau is a desirable estimate of the symbol timing. Since only one training symbol is employed, the conventional symbol timing circuit does not allow time for possible switching of antennas and corresponding AGC settling during packet detection.